The light novel – a genre which at its loosest could be defined as any novel with an anime-style cover, periodic illustrations and, of course, a sparsity of text inversely proportional to the length of its title – having apparently long since outstripped manga and visual novels as the premier source material for late night anime adaptations, it is only fitting that the best such adaptations be ranked by the viewers who lap them up.

Kids don’t care whether something is generic. They only care for what’s often called “wish fulfillment”, that is, being able to project themselves onto the walking plank of wood MC and pretend the girls are lusting after them. The less they can project onto the MC, and the more they have to think, rather than be titillated, the less popular it will be, and hence it won’t be on top of the list.

Wait.. if it “pales in comparison” to other anime, then why would you give it a 10/10? I can understand “I enjoyed it a lot” but why even rate out of 10 if you’re giving away the 10s? Doesn’t that defeat the whole point of a system like that?

IS is in 1st?
It was okay, but not remarkable… standard harem anime with mecha suits.

Spice and Wolf and FMP would tie first for me, the tie breaker would depend on my mood that day.
Durarara would be up there a bit, and I can’t comment on 2nd because I have not watch and 3rd is okay, but I guess more recent so it ranks higher.

The fuck?! Bakemonogatari at 10. And SAO gets number 2. I’m really starting to worry SAO got 2nd it’s so terrible the concept is quite good but the story sucked. Yet people love this shit. I wonder how people even vote for anime nowadays.

Also describes SAO a bad plot that reads like a rip off of dot hack crossed with a side plot from GiTS SAC but it has nice art work ,fight scenes and some moe characters.
Of course the GiTS crew would have solved the hostage situation in a single episode.

4. Sakura-sou no Pet na Kanojo – Pretty and atypical but overly dramatic at times. That’s ok though, it at least only has one character that falls into generic molds. Surprisingly not a harem.

5. Hyouka – Slow paced and definately “small-scale” with its mysteries, but still somehow really engaging and entertaining. Also not a harem.

6. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai – Original characters that eskew their archetypes and humorous writing. High on fanservice and also a complete harem but still entertaining and original.

7. Baka to Test – Original characters that eskew their archetypes and humorous writing. High on fanservice but still entertaining and original, though the premise is stupid. Not a harem, but close to it.

8. Ore no Imouto – Original characters that eskew their archetypes and good writing. Entertaining and original, and almost believeable. Almost a harem, though.

9. Haruhi – Good stuff. Original, very entertaining, and a strong cast of characters (particularly the protagonist). Almost a harem, though.

10. Bakemonogatari – Good stuff. Strong writing, good cast of characters, and uniquely interesting stories. Very close to a harem setting, though.

11. Kokoro Connect – Haven’t watched it, so I defer to others.

12. Accel World – Interesting plot idea (albeit fantastical) marred by generic battle situations, standard arbitrary separations, and a completely pathetic protagonist. Interesting use of CG though, and also not a harem.

14. Spice & Wolf – Good stuff. Slow paced and low on action but well written with interesting characters. Not a harem.

15. Durarara!! – Not as good as Baccano IMHO, but pretty good. Interesting characters and very well written, and while the “main” protagonist is kind of uninteresting the large and varied cast keep flavorful (though in some respects the cast may actually be “too” large). Not a harem.

Saying they have “perspective” of any sort is already incredibly generous. They just want to pretend they know what they’re talking about, because they’re young enough to have to justify themselves that way.

Because it’s designed around wish fulfillment, and does so incredibly well. All it needs is a plank of wood they can pretend is them, and a cool character or two they (ie, the MC) can aspire to be. And IS does those things perfectly without threatening to challenge them. It’s basically the perfect titillation for those who don’t want to be challenged, and just want to wind down after a day of dealing with teenage hormones as they sit in class.

Why is IS #1? When the anime came out people were complaining that it was too generic and despite that it still became extremely popular. And please don’t give me the “the light novel is better” because if an anime adaption with music, voice acting, and animation couldn’t convince me, then I doubt a light novel can.